The WSBeat: Leash rage; soccer rage; tree crime; more…

This edition of the WSBeat contains summaries written from reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers – generally cases that (usually) have not already appeared here in breaking-news coverage or West Seattle Crime Watch reports, but that might at least answer the question “what WERE all those police doing on my block?”

*A woman walking with an offleash dog at Lincoln Park berated a citizen for “not being friendly” when he stepped between his own leashed dog and hers. He walked away but the woman kept yelling. He turned and told her to follow the rules and leash her pet. She walked toward him, pushed him in the chest, and took a swing with a dog chain, hitting him in the arm and leaving his shirt sleeve blood-soaked. Several strangers intervened and separated the two, but no one called 911. The victim asked some nearby teens to call but they refused, saying they didn’t want to get involved. The victim notes that the teens were drinking alcohol. The suspect is described as white, in her 30s, about 5’8″, with a heavy build. In addition to her small black dog, she was walking with a child, about seven years of age.

*On the evening of the 12th, a man became angry after being “yellow carded” during a league soccer match at Hiawatha Field. He began shouting and punched a member of the opposing team. When all of the team members joined in with the yelling, the ref stopped the game.

*Early on the 10th, a man cocked a handgun and threatened to “smoke” two men leaving a Junction bar. One said, “Go ahead and shoot me in the back,” and walked off. He turned around and saw his friend get hit in the jaw and crumple to the ground. The victim ended up at Harborview with fractures of both the left and right jaw bones. The suspect is described as black, in his early 30s, with dreadlocks and a light goatee. He drove a dark plum or navy-colored Audi A8.

Seven more summaries ahead:

*On the 10th, officers recognized a man matching the description of someone seen breaking into the Jefferson Square apartments: White, in his 20s, about six feet tall with long blond dreadlocks. Police say he is a homeless man who frequents the Admiral area and has a history of break-ins, thefts, and assaults. In fact, he had been trespassed from an Admiral store just the previous day for shoplifting, and on this day officers found him in the restroom of the Junction store of the same grocery chain. His backpack was loaded with numerous car keys, burglary tools, and a padlock on a chain (which he has previously used as a weapon). The 24-year-old was booked into King County Jail for investigation of a variety of violations.

*A white male, aged 30-49 years, exposed himself to a mother and young daughter walking in the 2300 block of 47th SW around noon on October 29. The suspect wore red pants and red shoes, a light colored jacket and had light curly hair.

*An officer hit the jackpot in Roxhill Park on the afternoon of the 4th: Not only did he stumble across an intoxicated woman lying on top of an intoxicated man, but she turned out to be the suspect from a shoplift at a nearby grocery. But wait, there’s more: The man was wanted on a $30,000 warrant for violating a domestic violence court order. As they were being separated, he kept whistling at her and begging for “one more kiss.”

*After calling Child Protective Services about abuse of a youngster, a local woman was threatened by the suspect in the case. She now carries protective spray when she must pass the suspect’s home.

*On the evening of the 11th, a mom went in search of her 17-year-old daughter who had left a group of friends and walked off, arguing intensely with her boyfriend. She found them at 58th and Stevens, and when she tried to get the young man into her car, he shoved her to the ground, stripped off his coat and shirt and stood over her with his hands balled into fists. He was aggressive with officers, claimed to be carrying a knife (it was not found), said he had the right to bear “plenty of arms,” and that he would “handle things when he beat this case.” He was booked into King County Jail for investigation of nonaggravated assault.

*Officers arrived at a home in the 3200 block of 48th SW on the afternoon of the 8th and found a tenant visibly upset and shaking: He stated that his onsite landlord of two years was on an alcohol and drug bender and had chased him down some stairs, demanding money. When the tenant said he had already paid rent for the month, the landlord threatened to “punch his face in.” The landlord was *not* eager to deal with officers, apparently, because when he learned they were on the way, he got into his truck and peeled out so quickly that he left skid marks at the scene. Officers advised the tenant to get a restraining order and to move as quickly as possible.

*A resident decided to cut down a 60-foot cottonwood tree on a neighbor’s property in the 4000 block of 58th Pl. SW. He did not have permission to do so. Damages are estimated at $6,000.

==============EDITOR’S NOTES: Remember, the CRISIS CLINIC hotline is a resource for those in crisis, including thoughts or acts of self-harm, or trying to find help for someone in crisis: 206.461.3222 … Previous WSBeat roundups are archived here. We also publish crime reports when we get tips or otherwise hear about noteworthy incidents – they don’t all turn up on the scanner, so please don’t be shy about letting us know when you see/hear something happening = calling or texting 206-293-6302 is the best way.

A couple months back, 2 women walking their dogs illegally offleash yelled at me for telling them they should leash their dogs (their 2 were jumping on my leashed dog). They said that I was raising my dog wrong (I’m not) and it will make my dog neurotic and anti-social (he isn’t). This was on the greenbelt on the Longfellow Creek by the 5600 block of 26th Ave SW. Some people!!

I once saw the tall white man with blond dreadlocks shoplift from the Admiral Safeway. He went out through the coffee shop area, handed the filled backpack to people sitting near the main door and walked across California.

Seems to me the dreadlocked man in the Audi was described in a previous crime report – a year or more ago – about some sort of violent issue in the junction. Anyone else remember better than I do? Admittedly, my memory stinks.

I was walking my two dogs in West Seattle a few weeks ago near the highpoint playfield when a woman let her small dog run out of her house and charge at my dogs. I of course, yelled at her to come get her dog on a leash as mine were much larger and she proceeded to curse at me in front of her child and never came to get her dog. Keep it classy irresponsible, selfish pet owners, you are the problem.

What a bunch of class acts. Crazy Dog Lady could have been charged with assault (a friend once got nearly killed on his bike by a road-raging driver, and the driver got charged for getting out and punching him, not wielding a weapon – physical contact is taken seriously).
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Dreadlocks (white) sounds like he caused people a lot of grief with stolen keys. Put him away. Dreadlocks (black) shouldn’t be hard to find, unless the car was stolen, but the police never seem willing to track down cars without both license plate and driver description.
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Boyfriend (drunk) sounds like a winner – can’t believe girlfriend let him get away! Boyfriend (tough guy) should go to prison and try to prove his manliness to the other boys there.
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Landlord needs his licensed revoked to start.
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Paul Bunyan is lucky he doesn’t live next door to me. Not that I’d do anything about the cottonwood, but I wouldn’t lend him a cup a sugar.

I’m not a pet owner, so I have no dog in this fight, so to speak. That said, the point of leash laws is to prevent dogs from misbehaving or threatening other people and animals, right? If you see a dog off-leash that isn’t bothering anybody, why do you have to butt in?

Good grief, mind your own business!

And to the dog owner, you should probably learn how to respond properly to people giving you unsolicited advice: take it or leave it, don’t hit them with a chain.

WhatGives is you miss the point entirely. The dog owner who was following the regulations was walking away after keeping the dogs separated and then the quite possibly psycho woman went on a rant. I do agree, it’s usually not wise and often dangerous to point out to people who are knowingly disregarding regulations that they’re behaving improperly. As in this case, they may be more than just inconsiderate jerks.

@whatgives, if you have to step between your leashed dog and another person’s unleashed dog, I believe that means that the dog is bothering you. I’m assuming you just misread that somehow. I used to have a dog and I know I would step between my dog and another dog if one was unleashed. Telling someone the rules after they yell at you doesn’t justify physically assaulting someone.

A few years ago I was walking my black lab (on leash) in Redmond. A Jack Russell terrier came after us from a yard. The Jack Russell bit my dogs leg, causing my dog to turn and grab it by the back of the neck and shake it like a toy. The Jack Russell pooped itself and had puncture wounds. That pets owner most likely had a nice vet bill to pay that could have been avoided if they had their dog contained.

I’ve seen the kid with blond dreadlocks many times digging through our dumpsters as well as at Safeway. I always knew he was bad news, but reading about his background, I’ll definitely be on higher alert whenever I see him.

This past summertime, the guy with the blonde dreads walked through our group of townhomes pathway out to our back alley on 41st . very out of place and suspicious looking because he wasnt wearing a shirt and was walking really funny. After he was gone I noticed a navy duffel (like one of those waterproof ones) in the walkway. like he dropped it there. I looked inside there were tons of computer wirey things and porno magazines. it was so so weird. I asked the neighbors and it threw it all away. i’m ALWAYS on alert

Have two golden retrievers, always walk them on leash, even though they wouldn’t hurt a flea; West Seattle has a pretty good off leash park (which I do visit with my two dogs) and it is NOT Lincoln Park so I feel for those walking their pets legally being accosted by numbskulls letting their pets run around off leash illegally.

In the first story, everyone seems to be more concerned about the leashed/not-leashed issue rather than the fact that a person who had been visibly injured couldn’t find anyone at a busy park to call 911 for him. That really saddens me more.

A few weeks back I posted a rant concerning off-leash dogs in the “Forums” section of WSB.
Fellow WSB readers informed me that topic had been debated more-than-thoroughly over the years.
Now that someone else has raised it, I feel comfortable in chiming in again. :)
How ridiculous that the unhinged scofflaw would have the gall to attack, both verbally and physically, the law-abiding dog owner!
I walk my dog at Lincoln Park almost daily, always encountering those who obviously think they are above the (leash) law.
If I ever have the misfortune to encounter the crazy woman described in this incident, I WILL call 911, and use my phone to video her behavior as evidence.
Between the chronic car prowls in the parking lot, and incidents such as Leash Lady, I gotta wonder if I should just stay home.
The more I deal with people, the more I love my dog.

There’s no question that unleashed dogs can cause all sorts of problems, and it makes perfect sense to encourage leash use in the city. This is why we have leash laws. Yet some people choose not to follow the law and then their dogs get themselves into trouble.

There are ways to fix this problem, and they include things like a) increasing the fine, b) increasing enforcement, and c) increasing the penalty on the owners for damage done by their dogs.

However, making passive aggressive comments in the park is NOT one of the ways to fix the problem. For every incident like this one, you have at least two newly angry people and no fewer dogs off leash. What was accomplished?

The SPD’s nonchalant approach to crime is just another oddity in this corner of the country. But, the SPD will have dozens of police at any kind of public gathering where people are, gasp, having fun. Can’t have any riots!

For the record the “entire” team did not join in during the soccer game incident. It was an argument between 2 individuals, which after the fact spread to two other individuals from opposing teams. The agressor was subdued by his own team. Just to clarify.

When the off-leash dog problem gets raised in the forums, people posting about the problem usually get told they should ask the offenders to leash their dogs. But this story shows why that’s often not a good choice, and why we need official enforcement.

Well I read that dog report and was appalled that no-one would call 911 because they “didn’t want to get involved.” When someone is bloodily attacked? You could at least place the call and then leave if you didn’t want to get further involved.

WhatGives, your comments are almost as misplaced as the actions of the woman who leash-whipped a law abiding citizen. Passive aggressive? How is taking the time to voice one’s disapproval at this scofflaw’s actions in any way passive aggressive? Completely appropriate is a better description, and I admire this person for being outspoken. When I encounter these twits when walking my two leashed dogs I make a big detour, grumbling under my breath the whole time. THAT, my friend, is passive aggressive. This citizen simply called out the offensive actions of a butt head, and got assaulted for his efforts. Your allegiances are misplaced.

Hey crazy pet people! I don’t have a pet and I don’t appreciate when your pet runs up and sniffs my crotch and jumps up on me with wet or dry paws. Not everyone thinks your pet is the coolest thing. I like animals but I wouldn’t let my domesticated animal behave like an unruly child. Pet or child, I don’t care you train them or leash pets in public. Let run the house if you want. But in my space, don’t be surprised if your dog gets a shot of chili pepper when they run up to me leash or not. Keep you distance. Some people have allergies, phobias, fears, or they simply don’t like pets, just like some people don’t like other peoples kids or small children in certain environments.
Don’t even get me started on dogs in the supermarket and restaurants. I have stopped going to restaurants that let pets in. Seeing eye dog, I get it. “Service” pets too questionable to let into my eating space where I don’t want animals. If you can’t go into the restaurant without your pet, don’t go in.

“*A resident decided to cut down a 60-foot cottonwood tree on a neighbor’s property in the 4000 block of 58th Pl. SW. He did not have permission to do so. Damages are estimated at $6,000.”

Probably a ticked off neighbor buried under a mountain of cottonwood leaves! Having just raked a mountain of someone else’s leaves I can almost sympathise. Pretty amazing he dropped a 60ft tree without any other reported damages.

(Common loon in winter plumage, photographed by Mark Wangerin) Lots of good cheer - and some community involvement too - in our highlights for the rest of today/tonight, from the WSB West Seattle Holiday Guide and Event Calendar: COCOA CRIS CRINGLE: 4-8 pm photo sessions at Easy Street Records, rais...